It was almost 11 when I headed out to the Collingswood Farm Market. They're down to their last four weeks. There's now almost as many craft and service booths as produce tables. Even so, they were still busy with people buying food for their Halloween and birthday parties. I settled for cranberries, small apples, carrots, a tomato, and a red onion.
Went straight home after that. Had just enough time for a quick writing session. Snoke wants to marry his apprentices, including Prince Ben, off to Leia's wards, and take Leia as his companion. Leia knows that what he really wants is the rich, fertile resources of Alderaan and refuses to agree to his demands. He's about to throttle Leia with his black magic when Leia's servant Clarence appears, telling her Luke's arrived. Snoke lets her go as the boys follow him, complaining that the girls aren't paying attention to them.
Broke at 1 for lunch and to get ready for work. Did more seasonal Max & Ruby as I ate the last few pieces of last night's pizza. "Max and Ruby's Perfect Pumpkin" will be the best in Mr. Piazza's grocery store, if Ruby can get her brother to stop trying to get the candy decorations off the grocer's scarecrow display. Ruby wants "Max's Jack-o-Lantern" to be a happy pumpkin. Her brother has other ideas. He's hoping "Max's Big Boo" will scare her sister, but she finds a way to turn the tables and give him the scare.
Work was on-and-off busy...but when it was on, the lines were down the aisles. I spent the first half of my shift doing carts and trash. Had trouble doing returns again. I tried to take a full cart of returns, like I was told to do...and of course, the manager on duty said to organize the cart, because the head manager likes it that way. I really wish there was one list of rules as to how to do these things that ALL the managers had to follow, regardless of whether they like it or not. I hate following six different sets of rules! That's part of why I live alone. The only person whose rules I'm following are mine. And I briefly got stuck in the register when we were really busy.
Hurried out of the store as soon as I possibly could. Switched to The Backyardigans while making dinner. In "Scared of You," Austin, the assistant to Tasha the mad scientist, must summon three monsters for a special party at her laboratory. Not only is Austin upset that he has to work on his birthday, but Tyrone the Mummy King, Uniqua the Werewolf, and Pablo the Vampire are scared to death of everything, including each other! Austin has to figure out how to get them to Tasha without frightening them away.
Runaway Brain may be the strangest Mickey Mouse short Disney ever did. Ran this one while having roasted broccoli, the last orange chicken leg, Cranberry Flummery, and Spicy Cranapple Muffins for dinner. This 1995 horror tale has Mickey heading to another spooky laboratory to make money for his and Minnie's anniversary vacation. Turns out that the mad scientist Dr. Frankenollie (Kelsey Grammer) meant the "mindless work" mentioned in his want ad literally. He ends up switching Mickey's brain with that of a monster that bears a very close resemblance to Big Pete. Now Mickey has to get the brains back in the right bodies and then dispatch the monster, before he decides to play King Kong with Minnie!
Began Mad Monster Party while cleaning up from dinner; finished it after my shower. One of Rankin-Bass' few full-length stop-motion movies takes us to the laboratory of a far more famous mad scientist. Dr. Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) is planning to retire, and has invited all the famous monsters of literature and film to hear him make his announcement. He's planning on leaving his secrets, including a new potion for destroying matter, to his nerdy nephew Felix Flankin (Allan Swift). His assistant Franchesca (Gale Garnett) and creation the Monster and his Bride (Phyllis Diller) are angry that he didn't leave his secrets to them and vow to eliminate Felix. Francesca gets help from Dracula (Swift), at least before she realizes that Felix isn't such a bad fellow. Now they both have to escape the wrath of the monsters, before an even bigger creature-feature celebrity crashes the party.
This is one of the most bizarre things Rankin-Bass ever did...and given what some of their later holiday specials and movies are like, that's saying a lot. When Phyllis Diller is one of the least-weird things on the screen, you know a movie is strange. Jokes about the bizarre plot aside, some of the stop-motion work here is first-rate. There's so much detail in the Baron's castle and on the island, you can spend a viewing alone checking those out. I'm also partial to a couple of the songs, notably Francesca's "It's Our Time To Shine" and "There's Never Been a Love Like Mine."
If you've got fans of old-time horror or the Rankin-Bass holiday specials around, try this one on them. Like Nightmare Before Christmas, it's a unique take on vintage horror cliches that deserves more than the second-feature grind it got on its original release.
Disney had a couple of Halloween specials bouncing around TV from the 70's through the early 90's, Halloween Hall of Fame being one of them. Disney's Halloween Treat, The Disney Channel's fall holiday special from 1983, is another. A pumpkin narrator introduces segments from various Disney shorts and films focusing on spooky elements or villains, with four cartoons ('The Old Mill," "Donald and the Gorilla," "Lonesome Ghosts," and "Trick or Treat") seen nearly in full. We also get two sequences from old Disneyland/Walt Disney Presents episodes. One is on cats and the spooky legends surrounding them. The other has Hans Conried as the Magic Mirror telling us about favorite Disney villains, from Madame Medusa to Malificent to Captain Hook (whom he originally voiced).
While not on DVD at press time, it is currently available on YouTube under it's original syndicated title A Disney Halloween if you're interested.
Finished out the night with a quick Pink Panther short. "Pink Plasma" was the super-cool kitty's only foray into genuine scares. He finds himself at a spooky castle in Tranyslvania, the home of a vampire who really wants to nibble on furry pink necks. Pink has to find ways to dodge him if he wants to get out of his house alive.
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